States of Consciousness

I've come across a few different articles and that have got me thinking about altered states of consciousness again. My interest in this particular topic has developed from many different sources. Although this part of philosophy/psychology can often seem inaccessible, my interest in it was sparked by some personal issues. I don't really think I know a whole lot about this subject yet, but I'd like to share how and why I've been thinking about it recently.

My thoughts are woven together in three ill-defined strands; these are sleep, drugs and religion. So how are these connected? Well, sleep is the most obvious for me. I have often struggled to get up in the morning and more recently I have sometimes had problems with getting to bed early regularly and getting enough sleep in general. I wouldn't say these problems were very serious but I think that sleep has such a big effect on our life and health I'd like to have it sorted out. So, maybe a year or six months ago, I got a book out of NUIM library on the psychology of sleep. This book simply caught my eye because I thought that I'd like to understand sleep better so that I might improve my habits. This was my first foray into this topic and it laid a useful groundwork. The biggest thing that I took from it though, was that such a basic and simple function as sleep still stumps modern psychologists. They at least shed some light on the 'how' of sleep but my inquisitive nature wanted to know more of the 'why'.

I haven't really thought about it much since, but now I've found a few intriguing bits of a puzzle that seem to fit together. First, there was a brief conversation about psychedelic drugs with a friend. This featured some Huxley (The Island, Brave New World, Doors of Perception/Heaven and Hell), and also some modern takes on the spiritual uses of drugs. This comes against a backdrop of my recently developed open mind towards God and spirituality. I have been meditating on and off for some time now and have been trying to practise it more regularly. And the drug aspect engages me simply because I am trying to square my curiosity and open-mindedness with a slightly dogmatic anti-drug sentiment. So those things all got me thinking in this general direction. From 'can drugs ever be good?' to 'is there a God?' to 'how can I sleep better?'. The threads start to come together... 'Could drugs bring understanding of God, or help with sleep?' 'Could different ways sleeping reveal spiritual understanding, or mimic the effects of certain drugs?'.

Okay, I've made a bit of a leap there. This is mostly due to an article in Philosophy Now magazine, Issue 91. (Not online for non-subscribers, but here's another related one that got me thinking.) It basically brought these threads together for me. In it, Shawn Harte argues that all human religions are based on hallucinatory experiences; either sleep paralysis or out-of-body experience. His argument is pretty convincing, citing many examples in many of the major religions. He cites many examples from religious literature of all creeds to back this up, but what is most interesting is his explanation of these hallucinatory experiences. All of these states are achieved by some form of, what has come to be known as, meditation. The mention of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), what he describes as 'the endogenous hallucinogens', sparked the link with the earlier conversation. The release of high amounts of DMT accompanies the occurrence of these altered states of consciousness. These hallucinations have been interpreted very differently throughout history and within different traditions. Although fascinating, I thought that this was just an elaborate form of religion bashing, but the conclusion is what has raised all these questions for me so vividly.

"The causal link between sleep paralysis, out-of-body experience and religion formation may remain deceptively concealed until one not only experiences the phenomena and knows their underlying psychology, but additionally, delves through copious volumes of diverse religious literature specifically searching for possible accounts of such experiences. Despite having both sampled the scriptural records of these phenomena and been briefed on the basic science in this article, the catalytic role of hallucinatory experience in religion formation will remain intriguing but distantly theoretical until you yourself experience sleep paralysis hallucinations, and particularly the unmitigated rapture of an out-of-body experience. And so I invite you to exalt active investigation over passive agnosticism, research the induction methods for these mystical phenomena, and try them for yourself. For when you taste of their unspeakable blissful convincingness, I promise that you will nevermore deride the prophets, but rather envy them."

So I've got a burning new question to ponder, even if I'm not ready for active investigation. And I also have a new philosophical perspective in my search for the best sleeping habits. Good Night!